Some Colton, Parishville residents remained without power Wednesday evening

COLTON - Several hundred residents of Colton, Pierrepont and Parishville woke up Wednesday morning still without power to their homes following Tuesday evenings thunderstorm that at one point had knocked out power to more than 5,000 residents in the county.

As of 11:30 a.m. National Grid was reporting 441 customers without power in Colton and 241 without power in Parishville. At that time, both communities had an expected restoration time of 5 p.m.

Colton Highway Superintendent Kevin S. Hawley called Tuesday nights storm the worst his community has seen in quite some time.

Its been about five years since weve had anything like this, he said, noting last years storm that ripped through downtown Potsdam, for the most part, missed Colton.

When asked to describe the damage, Mr. Hawley said, We had lots of trees down. There were trees down on pretty much every road.

Mr. Hawley said he and his crew spent the day cleaning up damage from the storm.

Weve had offers from some other town, but well take care of it, he said. They have other things going too.

While the storm wasnt entirely cleaned up Wednesday, Mr. Hawley said, he was expecting to have the town cleaned up by Thursday evening.

Tomorrow (Thursday) we should be all cleaned up, but that depends on what happens tonight (Wednesday). Theyre talking about another storm going through.

The National Weather Service issued a severe thunder storm watch for the region Wednesday afternoon. That watch was in place through 10 p.m. for much of Northern New York, including St. Lawrence, Franklin, Clinton and Essex counties. Parts of the county were under a severe thunderstorm warning until 12:30 this morning.

As of 3:30 p.m. more than half of those without electricity in Colton had seen their power restored.

However, National Grid was still reporting 205 residents without power.

In Parishville, 239 residents were still listed without power.

Parishville Highway Superintendent Patrick M. Remington said he spent his day working with his crew in Joe Indian and Sterling Pond.

We had eight guys and our equipment out there all day today, he said. We got the road opened up, but there is some stuff to finish up tomorrow.

There were trees down everywhere, he continued, noting the path of the storm was spotty.

You would go 100 yards and there would be a patch of trees down, then you would go another 100 yards and there would more trees down, he said.

Like Mr. Hawley, Mr. Remington said Parishville, for the most part, missed out on last years storm.

He too called Tuesdays storm the worst hes seen in long time.

Last year we were all right and didnt get hit, but this year we werent so lucky, he said.

A few hundred residents of both communities remained without power, with National Grid reporting a planned restoration time of 11 p.m.

Forecasts call for thunderstorms throughout today, some of which could produce heavy rains

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